# MMR: all a lie. Damn you Dr Wakefield. (Mild) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 8, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920 "2009-02-08T13:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/1 "2009-02-08T13:26:58Z")
So the MMR scandal was all based on a lie. Time article [here](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece). Money quote here: > [@Cited article](#): > > Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, Damn you Dr Wakefield! You seriously scared a great many people into putting their children at real risk. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/2 "2009-02-08T13:37:48Z")
There shouldn’t be anything ‘mild’ about this pitting whatsoever. Wakefield has children’s blood on his hands and should be held responsible for that. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/3 "2009-02-08T13:43:57Z")
I’m sorry, but I just don’t have a mastery of creative vitriol. I’m just really mild mannered. Most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/4 "2009-02-08T13:44:57Z")
Oh my God. Losing his medical license is too good. He needs to be publicly tarred and feathered. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/5 "2009-02-08T13:45:23Z")
Check out the Bad Science blog for info on how this is still rumbling on… [http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/bad-science-bingo/](http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/bad-science-bingo/) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/6 "2009-02-08T13:45:28Z")
That utter asshole. I work in medical research and falsified research leads some people to smear all research, distrust studies. Plenty of people who believed the original study will stick to their guns, disbelieving this information; others will just go rabidly anti-Medicine in other ways. He has done immense harm to the reputation of researchers and vaccinations both. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/7 "2009-02-08T13:47:19Z")
Here is a little more of the article for those of us who didn’t make the connection right away. > [@](#): > > THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found. > > Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/8 "2009-02-08T13:48:07Z")
I have a question…why? Why would he want to prove a link between MMR vaccines and autism? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/9 "2009-02-08T13:51:54Z")
What’s really depressing about this is Ferret Herder’s right…showing Wakefield to have been a fraud won’t cool the anti-vaxers at all - it’ll just be ‘proof’ for them that the medical establishment is corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/10 "2009-02-08T13:52:00Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I have a question…why? Why would he want to prove a link between MMR vaccines and autism? Short version: He was in the pocket of a lawyer who wanted to sue the MMR vaccine makers over an autism link. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/11 "2009-02-08T13:53:28Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I have a question…why? Why would he want to prove a link between MMR vaccines and autism? My uinderstanding was that he was getting funding from a lawyers group who were hired by parents to sue vaccine manufactures for damages. He was trying to ‘prove’ the link to bolster the damages claim. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/12 "2009-02-08T13:56:58Z")
Congrats to the _Times_ for investigating this. I am stunned. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/13 "2009-02-08T14:04:31Z")
I know exactly how this is going to play out on the TV news: "A study linking vaccinations to autism has been shown to be fraudulent, blah blah blah…But IS there a real link? many parents still believe in the link. (Cut to some sound bites from about 20 of these parents):rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/14 "2009-02-08T14:10:40Z")
The thread title confused me. I had no idea why you were pitting a Philadelphia rock station. Unfortunately this is not the first or last time something like this has happened when doctors were in the pockets of lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/15 "2009-02-08T14:22:33Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > What’s really depressing about this is Ferret Herder’s right…showing Wakefield to have been a fraud won’t cool the anti-vaxers at all - it’ll just be ‘proof’ for them that the medical establishment is corrupt. At least it should convince the politicians who have been trying to score points over it. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/16 "2009-02-08T14:27:41Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > At least it should convince the politicians who have been trying to score points over it. It won’t do that, either. Politicians love to wrap themselves in the pro-family flag and don’t let reason get in the way of that. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/17 "2009-02-08T14:37:56Z")
Now, what Google ads am I getting in this thread? Just one, advertising a clinic’s special ‘separate vaccines for M, M and R’ service. No links to, for instance, Ben Goldacre’s [Bad Science blog](http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/bad-science-bingo/). :smack: times infinity plus one. Gresham’s Law appears to apply to information as well as coinage. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/18 "2009-02-08T14:52:18Z")
> [@](#): > > **Ponch8** said: > I know exactly how this is going to play out on the TV news: > "A study linking vaccinations to autism has been shown to be fraudulent, blah blah blah…But IS there a real link? many parents still believe in the link. (Cut to some sound bites from about 20 of these parents) The autism/vaccine/thimerosal thing was on the news one day at the laundromat. A woman dressed in scrubs embroidered with the name of one of the local hospitals told me how vaccines with thimerosal in them absolutely do cause autism and she knows this because she is a nurse. Then she went on to say that even though thimerosal is not put into vaccinations anymore, it’s still not safe to get your kids vaccinated because most doctors are using their stock of old vaccines that still have it in there from years and years ago. I really hope she’s not working in pediatrics. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/19 "2009-02-08T15:04:30Z")
In the U.K., the affair was very badly handled. The government forbade doctors from using the old, separate, vaccines and just flatly denied any problem. It would have been over in 3 months if they’d said something along the lines of, “Okay, let’s look at your data. In the mean time, concerned parents can opt for the old vaccines.” And he would have been found to be a fraud very quickly. But he’s now been well and truly kebabbed. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920/20 "2009-02-08T17:53:26Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I have a question…why? Why would he want to prove a link between MMR vaccines and autism? He wanted to impress hot model and autism activist Jenny McCarthy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mmr-all-a-lie-damn-you-dr-wakefield-mild/484920.md?page=2)